Door-operating means for elevators



Feb. 11, 1930. F. A. BOEDTCHER 1,746,850-

DOOR OPERATING MEANS FOR ELEVATORS INVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 11, 1930 UNITED, STATES PATENT oFFicE FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER, F BERGENFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY DOOR-OPERATING MEANS FOR ELEVATORS Application filed September 16, 1927. Serial No. 219,842

This invention relates to mechanism for operating the shaft and cage doors of elevators and more particularly doors of the sliding type. It is common in elevator installations to employ cage and shaft doors of this type, and generally the doors are divided so that they are relatively narrow with two or more doors for each opening. The invention may be used in conjunction with any number of doors. It is very common in elevator installations to make the floor doors or cage doors relatively narrow and to suspend them upon suitable hangers from guides extending transversely of the shaft. The doors are frequently quite heavy, in many instances weighing upwardly of 500 pounds. The hangers are necessarily made strong and the tracks or guides in which they are mounted are correspondingly heavy. These doors are almost invariably operated by a link or toggle arrangement controlled hydraulically, manually or in other ways.

The linl: arrangement referred to is almost in universal use. It embodies in various forms a toggle, one end of which is secured to the door frame and the other end of which is secured to the door or to the sections thereof in such manner that when the toggle is flexed, the door or doors are slid into open or closed position. Through the operation of a toggle of this type, the operating power is transmitted to the door at one point in its height and as a general proposition, this point is relatively high on the door. As a result, the center of weight of the door is generally below the connection between the toggle and the door, so that when the parts are operated rapidly to bring about a quick starting or aquick stopping of movement of the door, there occurs a canting oi the door which places a pronounced stress upon the supporting devices thereof.

F or example, when a heavy door suspended from hangers is quickly moved from a stationary position, the movement is not in the form of a slow acceleration, but the operation occurs almost instantaneous and the in ertia of the door coupled with its size and relatively great height causes it to cant and places great stresses on the supporting devices due to the leverage represented by the height of the door and its relatively narrow width. Similar excessive stresses are applied when a door moving at high velocity from an open to closing position is instantly arrested by its actuating device.

It is not uncommon for the supporting devices to break in doors when operated as specified even when the best practice of making the hangers and other supporting devices extremely heavy is employed. The breakage of hangers with so called high speed doors is a common occurrence, yet prior to this invention, there has been no satisfactory solution of the problem.

Even if the operatingconnections are secured to the door at substantially the center of weight, the forces vary sufiiciently so as not to appreciably remedy the difficulty and at the present time, there 'is no practical solution of the problem other than to operate the doors at such relatively low speeds that the strains will not become excessive. Architects and owners are anxious to have the doors operate as rapidly as possible in order to speed up elevator operation as the car cannot leave a floor until the door is closed and a door cannot open until the car has reached a floor. Nevertheless under present practice, the doors must be operated sufiiciently slow to permit their mountings to hold together and obviously the associated cage cannot be operated at any faster speed than the door operation will permit.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, the object of the present invention is to pro vide for such rapid operation of elevator doors as to not hold up the speed of operation of the elevator and to accomplish this result in a simple, eflicient and economical manner. My study of this situation extending over a prolonged period,has convinced me that the only satisfactory solution of the problem is to so actuate the door that all parts of its height will be actuated simultaneously, so that its operation is not dependent upon a push or pull at any particular point in its height, but will, in contradistinction, be distributed throughout substantially the height of the door. In other words, it is not practical to operate the door at the center of weight or inertia because this may vary and usually does in practice, but I have found it entirely practical to simultaneously operate it at both above and below the center of weight or intertia, in such manner as to hold it at all times perpendicular to the direction of its travel.

Thus the purpose of the present invention is primarily to so operate the door that it cannot cant and jamb and by the elimination of these disadvantages, the operation of the door can be materially speeded up without danger to its supporting devices.

In practically carrying out the invention, I find it absolutely practical to provide twin operating mechanisms, one operating in the usual manner above the center of weight of the door and another operat-ively associated with the lower portion of the door and both of these interconnected so that the operation of one will effect a simultaneous operation of the other. This arrangement will move the door from open to closed position and vice versa, While positively precluding any tendency to cant. lVhen this last mentioned tendency is eliminated, the pronounced leverage action to which I have previously referred is entirely absent and the supporting devices of the door are caused to carry only the weight of the door and are not subjected in any way to strains or stresses incident to the operation of such door.

Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

.Figure 1 is an elevation of a door installation embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmental plan section taken in the plane of the line 2-2 of Figure 1, showing the tracks on which the door is suspended for sliding movement.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1, showing the door operating means.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 but illustrating a door in partially open position.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the wall of a shaft provided with a door opening 2. In this door opening is set an angle iron frame 3. Across the top of the door opening are mounted tracks 4; parallel to one another and rigidly mounted on suitable supports and on these tracks rollers 5 which form parts of door hangers 6 are mounted to travel. The doors are hung on these hangers. Any number of door sections may be employed without departing from this invention, but two sections designated 7 and 8 are shown for the purpose of illustration.

All of the assembly thus far described is conventional, is well known to the prior art and forms no part of the present invention, it being merely illustrative of one form of well known door with which the invention may be associated.

The door operating means is in the form of a double toggle embodying a central link 9 and terminal links 10 and 11. The center link is pivoted substantially midway of its length on a pivot 12 which is mounted on a bracket 13 secured to the rear edge of the door 7, as clearly shown in Figure 3. The link 11 is secured at one end to the forward end of the lever 9 by a pivot 14, while the opposite end of said link is secured by a pivot 15 to the door 8.

The rear end of the lever 9 is secured by a pivot 16 to the forward end of the link 10, while the rear end of the link 19 is secured by a pivot 17 to the frame 3 in the door opening. The lever 9 is provided with the usual handle 18 whereby it may be manually operated.

Associated with the link 10 is a spring 19 for'closing the door and a cushioning device 20 adapted to cushion in either or both directions is also connected to this link. A cable 21 is connected to the link and after passing over a directional pulley 22 is secured to a rack 23 with which an operating gear 2 1 meshes. When the gear 24 is operated to depress the rack, the link 10 is swung up on its pivot 17 and thereby imparts tilting movement to the lever 9 with the result that the doors are opened. When tension on the cable is relieved, the spring 19 will cause the parts to re-assume their original position and during both opening and closing movements, the operations of the door may be cushioned by the cushioning device 20.

I wish it understood that the method of operating the double toggle to which I have referred may vary without departing from this invention, the arrangement shown being for illustrative purposes only. This arrange ment, however, shows very clearly the manner in which the present invention may be incorporated in apparatus such as nowin practical use. i

In Figure 1 of the drawings, I have indicated substantially the center of weight or inertia of each section of the door by asterisks 7 and 8 It will be noted that the double toggle to which I have referred is above these points.

In carrying out the present invention, I apply another double toggle substantially identical with the first but positioned below the points 7 and 8 This second double toggle embodies links 9, 10 and 11 and is associated with the door sections and the frame 3 in the same manner as the upper double toggle, except that no operating mechanism such as the cable, the spring or the cushioning device is associated with the lower double toggle. The upper and lower toggles are, however, connected by a link 26, the upper end of which is secured to the lever 9, near its rear end and the lower part of which is connected to the lever 9 at its rear end. This link is a rigid link and connects the double toggles in such a way that when the upper toggle is operated by the actuating mechanism which I have described, the lower toggle will be operated in the same identical manner and in absolute synchronism. In other words, the operation of one toggle will bring about an identical operation of the other, so that the force imposed upon the door by one will be identical with the forces imposed upon the door by the other. As a result of this arrangement, the upper portion of the door and the lower portion of the door will be subjected to identical operating forces and canting of the door sec tions will be absolutely precluded.

ihe prime mover for operating the door may be connected to either toggle or to the link or other connection between the toggles without departing from this invention, the primary feature of which consists in subjecting the upper portion of the door to identical operating conditions, while precluding canting, and maintaining the doors at all times in perpendicular relation to the direction of its travel.

Through the employment of the present invention, the operation of the doors may be speeded up to an extent heretofore considered impractical under prior practice and without damage to the door mounting. This is a highly important phase of the present invention since it materially shortens the time that a cage is required to spend at a floor for the opening and closing of the doors taking on and discharging passengers. I have hereinbefore particularly described the invention as associated with the shaft doors of an elevator installation. I wish it understood, however, that the invention may be applied also to the doors or gates of an elevator car, the showing in the drawings being for the purpose of illustration only and not as defining the limits of the invention.

In the foregoing detailed description, I have set forth the present invention as incorporated in one form of door operating means, but inasmuch as the invention may be incorporated in other forms of door operating means, I wish to have it understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment illustrated, but that it is fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In door actuating mechanism for elevations to move the door from open to closed potor installations embodying a sliding door, and hangers for said door, the combination of door operating means at the upper portion of the door and independent of the hangers, similar door operating means at the lower portion of the door and independent of the hangers, and means for operatively connecting the said upper and lower door operating means, whereby both operating means are caused to act upon the door simultaneously in the opening and closing of said door while the door is supported independently of the door operating means.

2. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying a sliding door, the combination of means connected to the upper portion of the door for opening and closing the door, like operating means con .nected to the lower portion of the door for.

opening and closing the door means for interlocking the upper and lower door operating means for conjoint simultaneous operation, and means for supporting the door wholly independently of the door opening and closing means.

3. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying sliding doors, the combination with a toggle operatively connected between the upper portion of the door and the door casing, another toggle operatively connecting between the lower portion of the door and the door casing, and a link connecting corresponding portions of the two toggles to render the operations of said toggles substantially identical, whereby the effect upon the door is such as to maintain the door substantially perpendicular to its direction of movement.

4:. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying sliding doors, the combination with a toggle operatively connected between the upper portion of the door and the door casing, another toggle operatively connecting between the lower portion of the door and the door casing, and a link connecting corresponding portions of the two toggles to render the operations of said toggles substantially identical, whereby the effect upon the door is such as to maintain the door substantially perpendicular to its direction of movement, and suitable power means for operating said toggles simultaneously.

5. In door actuating mechanismfor elevator installations embodying a door having a plurality of sliding sections, the combination of means connected to the upper portions of the door sections to move the door from open to closed position and vice versa, means connected to the lower portions of the door secsition and vice versa, means for interlocking the upper and lower door moving means to render the effect of both of them upon the door sections substantially the same, whereby said door sections are held, during their operation in substantially parallel relation to one another and in perpendicular relation to their path of travel, and-means separate from and independentof the door. moving means for 75 supporting said sections for sliding movement.

6. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying a door having a plurality of sliding sections individually supported for sliding movement, in combination with link and lever operating means connected with the door frame andthe upper portions of the several door sections for impelling said sections from open to closed position 15 and vice versa, similar link and lever operating connections between the doorcasing and the lower portions of the several door sections for impelling said sections from open to closed position and vice versa, means for interlockgo ing the upper and lower door operating link and lever connections for like operations wherebyewhen one is operated the other is subjected to like operation, to maintain the door sections at all times in parallel relation :5 and perpendicular to their path of movement.

7. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying a door having a plurality of sliding sections, in combination with link and lever operating means connectcd with the door frame and the upper portion of the door sections for impelling the upper portions of the said sections from open to closed position and vice versa, similar link and lever operating connections between the door casing and the lower portions of the door sections for impelling the lower portions of said sections from open to closed position and vice versa, means for interlocking the upper and lower door operating link and lever connections for like operations whereby when one is operated the other is subjected to a like operation, to maintain the door sections at all times in parallel relation and perpendicular to their path of movement, and power means for operating said link and lever connections.

8. In door actuating mechanism for elevator installations embodying a door having a plurality of sliding sections, in combination 50 with a suitable prime mover, door operating connections for transmitting force from the prime mover directly to the upper portions of the door sections, synchronizing means for simultaneously transmitting the same forces to the lower portions of the door sections whereby canting of the door sections is precluded during their operation, and separate and independent means for supporting the several door sections for sliding movement. so In testimony whereof I have signed the.

foregoing specification.

FRANZ A. BOEDTCHEB. 

